Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374) was a precursor of the Humanist thought of the Renaissance and the author of numerous philosophical, religious and poetic works in Latin, but his major works, "I Trionfi", and "Il Canzoniere", are written in the vernacular. You can listen to poems of the latter work, where he examines his soul, analyses his unrequited love for Laura (whoever the lady may have been) and probes his inner - unresolved - crises. Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472) and Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) were both thinkers and artists whose sweeping interests embody the spiritual ideals and morals of that century. Leon Battista Alberti was a man of many talents: architect, theorist, mathematician, physicist and scholar, as well as the author of treatises on sculpture and architecture, written in both the vernacular and Latin. More than any other Leonardo da Vinci represents the ideal Renaissance man, versatile and open to all experience; his genius found expression in painting, sculpture, philosophy, mathematics and the study of the sciences, but he was also important as a writer thanks to his treatise on painting. Francesco Guicciardini (1483-1540), one of the most prominent historian and writer of Renaissance, had a philosophy based on the same basic principles as Machiavelli's: the individual, with his passions and actions, is the driving force of history. You can appreciate his acute sense of history listening to a chapter of his "History of Italy". Content: da "Il Canzoniere" (poesie scelte):Voi ch'ascoltate; Era il giorno ch'al sol; Solo et pensoso; Erano i capei; Chiare, fesche et dolci acque; Italia mia; Di pensier in pensier; O cameretta; Oimé il bel viso; La vita fugge; Zephiro; Né per sereno; I' vo piangendo - LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI da "Libri della famiglia- Libro 3- Proemio ": Dignità del volgare - LEONARDO DA VINCI; Pittura e Poesia - FRANCESCO GUICCIARDINI da " Storia d'Italia Libro I°-Cap.I° ": Proemio.